The Luang Prabang Project

Horse, llama, camel . . . how could riding an elephant be much different? Joe and I found out earlier this week when we treated ourselves to a flat-out touristy endeavor. We spent the weekend in Luang Prabang, a city in the northern part of the country – only a 40-minute flight from Vientiane. Joe had been invited to give presentations at the university up there. Lucky for us . . . it is the number one biggest tourist draw of Laos and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The architecture is unique with traditional Lao, French, and various combinations of both styles. Although the town is not big, there are many temples and markets. The morning market had beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables along with the more unusual items: squirrel, water buffalo legs (hooves attached), live frogs, young chickens, pig heads, and dried rats (?). I also saw something I could have sworn was dried bat . . . I have yet to corroborate my hunch. There are lots of tourists, mainly European and Asian, to whom the locals respond respectfully and amicably with a smile and a “Sabaidee Baw?” (How are you?) . . . quite surprising compared to the locals in Vang Vieng (the town with the “Friends” re-runs) who have become all but completely desensitized to contact with foreigners.

The sponsors of Joe’s workshops treated us to a lovely dinner at a fancy Lao restaurant. Much of the food was akin to Vientiane’s cuisine with the exception of dried buffalo meat (a tasty sweet beef jerky-type dish) and dried river-weed with sesame seeds (looks like seaweed, but not fishy or salty). One of the most popular things to do in town is to climb the 300 stairs to the top of the hill - Mount Phousi - in the center of town. There is a temple there with awesome views, golden Buddhas, and the footprint of Buddha himself (yes, I saw it!). I made it up to the top one morning seeing only two other tourists. At sunset, it is said to be absolutely packed with camera toting visitors – I guess morning was a good choice. The highlight, however, had to be our elephant ride through the Nam Kanh River. We had hired a tuk tuk to take us out to what we thought was “the most famous” elephant rehabilitation center. Well, some copy-cat operations have sprung up – with the word “elephant” on their signs. It took us a bit of going around in dusty circles with our patient tuk-tuk man to find the “Elephant Village” formerly known as the “Elephant Park Project” in a new location.

We had wanted only to see the facility and check out the rehabilitated elephants rescued from a life of logging and abuse. All 9 female elephants were there ready to take tourists on a “ride” . . . corny we thought until we saw that the hour-long tour took the elephants through the river and back through the jungle. OK – we give! When it was our turn, the gaggle of tourists that was supposed to have turned up for the next ride was nowhere in sight. The tour turned out to be just me, Joe, our mahout (the awesome English speaking elephant wrangler/guide) and Mae Kham (the 36-year-old professional pachyderm). It was a blast and over too soon. They are so quiet yet powerful, methodical yet curious – the sign at the entrance to the park had listed 10 things to remember about elephants . . . number 10 was: Never completely trust an elephant. I have to say, after the way Mae Kham took care of us that I trust her more than I do a lot of people – but I’m still glad I had that Xtreme Sport insurance!